Jimmie’s eyelids flutter slightly, a sign that sleep is just about to wear off. “But that’s the thing. After everything he’s seen, how can we not tell him the truth? How else am I going to explain why I stabbed myself like that?”
“Lizzie?” Jimmie’s voice is weak, and his eyelids barely part, but I see the blue of his irises hiding beneath.
“I’m here,” I say, turning my focus to him. He reaches for my hand, and I grasp his. As I lean close, I feel his gaze lingering on my face. “How are you feeling?”
“Head hurts.” It’s then he finally realizes we aren’t alone in the room as he gazes at both Evan and Lev. “Where am I?”
“You’re at home,” I whisper. “You’ve been out of it for a few days.”
He squeezes my hand. “Yeah. Been having some really nasty dreams.”
Something catches in my throat, and I want to tell him everything is okay, but how can I? I’m not sure I believe that.
“You’re awake now,” I finally manage and reach to touch his forehead, pushing away hair which has fallen into his eyes.
“I didn’t want to be,” he whispers hoarsely. “I thought I’d lost you.” His voice is rough, and his eyes seem too shiny, like he’s about to start crying.
“I’m here, Jimmie. Stop saying things like that.” My throat is tight, like any minute I’m going to start crying, and I don’t want that.
“I can’t help it. The things I saw….” His voice trails off, and he suddenly shifts his gaze from me to Evan and Lev. “What really happened?”
I can feel Lev stiffen next to me and Evan on the other side. “You want the truth?”
“Yes.” His eyes seem desperate, like he has to know, and I figure even if Lev and Evan don’t think he’s ready, Jimmie deserves the truth. So I sit back down in the chair and start at the beginning, the words flowing like water down a stream. During the whole conversation, Jimmie is strangely silent, letting me do all the talking. Somewhere in the middle, Griffin wanders in and sits. He, too, is quiet. Strange what it takes to get people to listen. Then again, after all this, I don’t think either of them can deny what I’m saying, even as crazy as it sounds, and by the time I’ve finished, they both stare vacantly ahead, seemingly far beyond me. Still, I wait for some kind of response. Griffin leans forward and cradles his head in his hands as though the weight of the world rests in his thoughts. Jimmie just shakes his head in stunned amazement. Then he looks at Lev, as if trying to accept what I’m telling him but can’t because all he can see is Scott. Of course, the next thing I know, I see the seventeen-year-old boy from Hauser’s Landing right.
“I’ll be damned,” Jimmie mutters.
“Not if I can help it,” Evan says.
“I should have listened to you, Lizzie. I know that.”
His gaze locks with mine. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” I stand and stretch, suddenly feeling claustrophobic and restless. “I’m going to go get some air, Jimmie. I’ll be back soon.
“You be careful,” Jimmie orders. Then again, if he hadn’t said that, I’d have thought he was still out of his head from whatever Theresa did.
“Of course.” I lean over and peck his cheek, something I thought I’d outgrown, but seeing Jimmie like this really puts things into perspective. “You get some more rest,” I whisper in his ear.
Although I’m expecting Evan and Lev are still hanging around, I suddenly realize both have left the room, probably to give me some space in case I need to talk to Jimmie, and maybe I would if he weren’t already closing his eyes and drifting back. This whole ordeal has really taken it out of him. Then I turn toward the door as Griffin stands and catches my arm.
His normally bright blue eyes seem a little darker, probably because of them being bloodshot, and his shoulders seemed to sag slightly. Both of these confirmed he wasn’t completely restored, either. His grip is weak, just another thing to worry about.
“Lizzie?” He speaks just barely above a whisper. “I’m sorry.”
“What for?” I frown, trying to understand why he thinks he needs to apologize.
“I know you think I wanted to leave you out of my life.”
I shake my head. “That wasn’t you. It was Jayzee controlling you.”
His face is ashen, and I can tell by the way he hangs his head it bothers him, no matter what I say. So I wrap my arms around him and give him a hug.
“It’s really okay, Griffin. None of us were acting right. I was a total idiot, too, because of Kane.”
He squeezes me back, and I can feel the desperation in his embrace. “I just don’t want to lose your friendship. You’re like a sister to me.”
“You won’t.” We linger like that for a few moments as I realize how grateful I am he’s okay and we’re okay together as well. Then, after we pull apart, I look at the doorway. “I’m gonna take a walk with Lev, okay?”
He nods. “Yeah.”
I head outside where Lev stands on the porch, his golden hair shining in the moonlight as he leans with both hands on the railing. As he hears me shut the door behind me, he straightens up and glances at me.
“Everything all right?” he asks, his hand reaching for mine.
“Yeah. I’m just glad they’re both okay.” I let him lead me from the porch to the front yard before he drapes an arm around my waist and turns me to face him.
“I’m glad you’re all right.” He slips the other arm around me, and we’re airborne as his large wings suddenly shift into focus and propel us skyward. A startled gasp slips from my lips, and he chuckles.
“I’ll never get used to that.”
“I know. Why do you think I didn’t warn you? I like the surprised look on your face.”
“Of course you do.”
Although Lev could block the rushing air flowing past us, he lets me feel the breeze tousling my hair and streaking across my face, and I close my eyes to revel in it until at last the momentum ends. When I re-open them, I find myself amid the clouds, Lev’s arms securely anchoring me to him. Even in the darkness where the only light to guide us is a quarter moon and a few stars, I see his blue eyes as clearly as if it were daylight.
“Can I ask you something?” I manage, awed by the beauty around us.
“Only if you want the answer.” Although his response makes me laugh, I know there is a serious side to it—the side that tells me he can’t control everything and I’m not always going to like what he has to say.
“Why did you go after Bob?”
“He was a corrupted angel, just like the others, Lizzie. There was no choice.”
I shake my head, trying to reconcile the old man with the angels I’ve seen. “He seemed so kind, Lev.”
“I know. That’s why I hated you witnessing it. I knew what you thought.” His gaze flickers from the heavens to me.
“But you also said Sarah was in danger from Colin. What did you mean? It seems like she was in league with him.”
His hold tightens. “I was Sarah’s mentor and failed her miserably, which left her wide open for Colin to twist. He did abuse her, and she was in danger.” He seems to be far away as he speaks.
“Shouldn’t I be in worse shape than Jimmie or Griffin?”
He frowns, furrowing lines in his forehead. “Yes, and no. The attacks on Jimmie and Griffin were, for the most part, psychological, which leads to a different kind of weakness. We can help them healing process, but not nearly as effectively as with a physical wound.”
“But why am I okay? Shouldn’t I be weak or something?”
Lev shrugs, and I can tell that there is something he’s not telling me. “Not sure about that.”
“Okay, I know you’re hiding something. Just spit it out.”
He swallows hard. “By all rights, you should be dead, and would have been if I hadn’t intervened. But that’s not exactly what’s troubling me.”
I lean against his chest, not sure I want to hear this.
“You asked,” he reminds me.
> “So tell me then,” I say.
“Whatever powers the dagger possessed no longer reside within the blade. They’re within you.”
I jerk back. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t know. But I’m thinking it’s probably not going to be good.” His arms tighten around me protectively.
“How can you not know?”
He laughs. “I’m an angel, Elizabeth. That means I know far more than humans, but I don’t know everything.”
“But how could the powers do that? Would that have happened if an angel had absorbed the blow?”
“No,” he admits, turning his gaze toward the stars. “But you humans are different. Your body is formed differently and composed of things which houses a soul. We don’t work that way. The best I can figure is the energy assumed it was being transferred into another a new object not a living being.”
I lick my lips, trying to wrap my head around this new chain of events, but I can’t. It seems so weird. “So what does that mean for us?”
“That you got your wish. I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
What a strange answer, I think. “Why?” I ask.
“Elizabeth, you absorbed an energy source meant to kill angels. Until we figure out how that works, I don’t want you to be around those who might want to somehow channel that power.”
I gasp and shake my head. “So what you’re telling me is I might be some kind of a weapon? Could I hurt you?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t know. I wish I did.”
I have that queasy, rolling stomach feel even if Lev weren’t holding me far above land. Nothing like knowing you’re a time bomb to make you wonder how the rest of your life is going to play out.
Maria Rachel Hooley has written over twenty novels, including New Life Incorporated, When Angels Cry, and the Sojourner series. Her work has been featured in numerous publications such as Green Hills Literary Lantern, Westview, and Kimera. Her first chapbook of poetry, A Different Song, was published by Rose Rock Press in 1999. She is a high school teacher and lives in Oklahoma with her husband and three children. You can see more of her work at http://www.mariarachelhooley.com
Second Sight (Sojourner Series Book 3) Page 22
